Zaheer Nominated for Three ICC Awards

Dubai: Ruled out of cricket for the next four months due to hamstring and ankle injuries, India's pace spearhead Zaheer Khan has something to cheer about as he has been nominated in as many as three categories for this year's LG ICC Awards to be held in London on September 12.

Besides Zaheer, three other Indian cricketers Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni have all been nominated in two categories each.

Apart from Zaheer, five other cricketers -- English duo of Jonathan Trott and Graeme Swann, South Africa's AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla and Australia's Shane Watson also feature in three different categories.

In the long-list of nominees, Zaheer finds his name in the ICC Cricketer of the Year award for Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy besides Test Player of the Year and ODI Player of the Year.

Tendulkar and Dravid also feature in the list of nominees for the Cricketer of the Year and Test Player of the Year award while Dhoni has been nominated for ODI Player of the Year and LG People's Choice Award.

Other Indian cricketers to have been nominated for this year's ICC awards are Ishant Sharma (Test Player of the Year), Harbhajan Singh (Test Player of the Year), Gautam Gambhir (ODI Player of the Year), Virat Kohli (ODI Player of the Year), Munaf Patel (ODI Player of the Year), Virender Sehwag (ODI Player of the Year), Yuvraj Singh (ODI Player of the Year), Jhulan Goswami ( Women's Cricketer of the Year), Poonam Raut (Women's Cricketer of the Year) and Abhinav Mukund ( Emerging Player of the Year).

Apart from 10 individual prizes, this year's LG ICC Awards will also feature the selection of the Test and ODI Teams of the Year and the award to the side that has adhered most to the Spirit of Cricket.

Also for the second time, this year's award ceremony will feature the LG People's Choice Award, which will be chosen by cricket fans around the world through online voting from a short-list of five cricketers -- Jonathan Trott, MS Dhoni, Chris Gayle, Kumar Sangakkara and Hashim Amla.

The fans currently have the opportunity to vote for the cricketer of their choice online until August 25 at www.lgpeopleschoice.com.

"The LG ICC Awards presents a wonderful opportunity for the ICC, in association with FICA and a myriad of cricket fans, to acknowledge and reward the brilliant performances of the world's best cricketers," ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat said in a statement.

"It is also a chance to look back on some of the great cricketing feats witnessed in the past year, including from our flagship event, the ICC Cricket World Cup. This will be the eighth Awards edition and once again the voting academy will face a tough task in deciding the winners," he added.

The long-lists of nominations were handpicked by a five-man selection panel chaired by former West Indies captain and current chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee Clive Lloyd, which also includes former international players Mike Gatting, Danny Morrison, Paul Adams and Zaheer Abbas.

The Spirit of Cricket Award was voted on by all international captains as well as all members of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires and Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees, while the Umpire of the Year Award was voted on by the captains and the match referees based on the umpires' performance statistics.

Based on the period between August 11, 2010 and August 3, 2011, the LG ICC Awards 2011 will take into account performances by players and officials in high-profile events such as the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the ICC Intercontinental Cup final, several ICC World Cricket Leagues as well as several bilateral Test and ODI series.

The previous editions of the LG ICC awards ceremony were held in London (2004), Sydney (2005), Mumbai (2006), Johannesburg (2007 and 2009), Dubai (2008) and Bengaluru (2010).

Long-lists of nominees (in alphabetical order; each category will be reduced to a short-list in due course):